Chantecler Chickens

We have worked for three years with two, younger, serious breeders as we pass on the actual hatching and shipping of our well bred Chanteclers. Our Chanteclers are a mix of 3 Canadian Import lines and the American Bisco line. This genetic mix has given us beautiful chicks and we are very pleased with the results. We pride ourselves in having played a prominent role in saving this marvelous heritage breed that nearly disappeared. Now we pass the torch.

We accept checks and Money orders. Email: fayrehale@gmail.com for address.

2017 Update

We have started taking and receiving orders for 2017. We will be continuing with our Chantecler Breeding Program. 2017 List position is in order of payment received. While we are not in a position to offer refunds, we are able to work with you and roll your order over to a more convenient time.

Check or MO. Email: fayrehale@gmail.com for address.

Keep Scrolling Down This Page For Further Information!

UPDATE!

As I catch up on chicken emails, I realize a posting might be helpful! Our season starts in May. There are many reasons we are not going to change that.

— it insures that the weather should be more consistent and fine for chicks and eggs to travel!

Our unusual weather has everyone excited and thinking Spring! Think Spring all you want! It isn’t here yet. Here in Vermont we were enjoying 60 degrees and rain (and mud:) last week. Today we are white with snow.

— Our Chickens are an important segment of our lives, HOWEVER, we are not a hatchery and they are not our entire life! We find more and more people treating us like a commercial hatchery — We are dedicated breeders of two very important Heritage breeds –

The list is manageable and has room for you. IF there are unforeseen circumstances that cause the list to not be completed, those people roll to the top of the next year’s list. People serious about having good quality birds from small breeders understand this — I waited 18 months once for birds I wanted (paid at time of order)

Check or MO. Email: fayrehale@gmail.com for address.

IT HAS BEEN DECIDED to go a little longer!!!!

I have decided that we will hatch and ship Chantecler chicks for another year or two — on a large scale. The White Chantecler will always remain part of our lives as we keep our flock for our own use (eggs and meat) and possibly some small local sales/sharing. We will continue to do our part to preserve this greatCanadian Heritage breed that nearly disappeared and will wait a year of two to just enjoy having backyard chickens again.

With this in mind, if you want Chantecler chicks, ORDER NOW! Position on the list is in order of when payment is received.

We accept checks and Money orders. Email: Fayrehale@gmail.com for address.

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Chanteclers Gathered for the Winter and in a Hoop House

We have gathered up the Chanteclers after their “free range vacation” and they are preparing for the 2014 season! The older birds experienced a selection process and some will be feeding us this winter. We added the younger birds we talk about below.

fayrehale@gmail.com

Our Chanteclers are of top quality and carry a nice genetic mix.

Based on some unfortunate experiences in 2012 we will not consider an order valid until we have money in hand. At that point your name goes on the list (chicks or eggs) and the order is filled in the order payment was received. Be aware that payments are already arriving. That said, we can still manage your order in a timely fashion.

We will start the incubator in late March and do our fertility check. Then we will start hatching to ship. PLEASE NOTE: Hatched chicks take priority over hatching eggs. We stop eating them:) so all Chantecler eggs are for production. Our incubator will run into September.

Chicks scheduled to be shipped are incubated so that they hatch on a Monday and go out the same day. They should arrived Wednesday.

While I have a special passion for preserving the White Chantecler, a Canadian Heritage Breed bred for cold climates, that nearly disappeared – I offer this advice to all lovers of poultry, regardless of the breed!

Interact with. converse with and buy from individual breeders who have a dedicated passion for the breeds they are working with! No truly serious breeder will be dealing with a zillion different breeds. (I also have breeding flock of Icelandic Chickens. Two breeding groups is ample for what I want to accomplish)

No serious breeder will be unethical enough to publicly slander solid heritage breeds or serious breeders. We all have our preferences and hopefully we can appreciate all good breeds.

I, unfortunately, had an experience recently that required legal attention. A low level, bottom tier, “hatchery” publicly slandered the White Chantecler and me (by personal and business name)! NOW, when they state: “where underweight, and human aggressive.”(SIC) – I know they are ignorant of any proper care and management! Their poor feeding or parasites would probably explain the underweight and I have no idea what they can possibly be doing to make this wonderful, docile breed aggressive! I do NOT think they should damn a great heritage breed for their poor management.

I have dealt with The White Chantecler for over 4 years now and I have never seen an aggressive bird! I am in and out of their pens multiple times a day. Pens with multiple Cocks! Aggressive behavior has never been experienced by me and except for this targeted slam against me, I have never heard of anyone else with an issue.

Unfortunately they go after more that the White Chantecler! — They damn the Dominique (an early American breed I love and have had in the past!) and other breeds like the Russian Orloff (large fowl) and Buckeyes to mention just a few that have been damned by them!

SO, please, when seeking poultry, deal with real breeders who have a passion for what they do and not “chicken mills” that are just looking for a fast buck.

If you must deal with a hatchery, deal with a big one and understand what hatchery birds often are — can be fun and fine sources depending on your purpose. Try to avoid the lower level “chicken mills”

When you see someone publicly attack another by name, you have the biggest red flag there is! If there is information on personal preferences to be shared it is done privately.

The important factor is our shared love of chickens and other poultry. Good luck finding the breed you want from a serious and passionate breeder source.

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January 10th, 2014

It was nice to receive a call from one of the TOP breeders of the Chantecler this morning! A breeder in Quebec who breeds carefully, maintains records and pedigrees and has Chanteclers that are descended from the original flock!

Calls of support like this make me know the importance of being out spoken in my insistence that the Chantecler is ONLY The Original WHITE Chantecler! PERIOD — End of discussion!

The so called “Partridge Chantecler” is a totally separate Canadian Breed developed in Western Canada – The Albertan.

The Buff & Red birds people are playing with are Buff & Red Chickens! They are in no way Chanteclers! EVEN if the APA decides to call them so! The American Poultry Association caused much of this problem by arbitrarily calling the Albertan the “Partridge Chantecler”

PLEASE be vigilant! KNOW where your Chanteclers are from. KNOW that they have not been bastardized by unknowing? or unscrupulous? breeders.

This is a serious issue if we are to maintain THE Chantecler. The Chantecler is ONE Chicken. The WHITE Canadian Heritage Breed developed by Brother Wilfrid for cold weather hardiness and so that Canada could have its, at the time, one and only Canadian Chicken Breed.

30 Years later the Albertan was developed and I re-post a segment you may have seen before:

“It is important to note that even though they carry the same name, the Partridge Chantecler and the White Chantecler are in effect, separate and distinct breeds, and accordingly must be maintained separately to ensure they remain as such!

The Partridge Chantecler was developed approximately 30 years after the White Chantecler, by Dr J E Wilkinson of Edmonton AB. Just as Brother Wilfrid made a series of crosses to come up with his “ideal”, so did Dr Wilkinson. Ultimately he came up with a bird that he called the “Albertan”. It is important to note that they actually had nothing at all to do with Brother Wilfrid’s White Chanteclers and that they were essentially completely different breeds. However when Dr Wilkinson submitted his “Partridge Albertan” birds for recognition by the American Poultry Association, they did accept them but then rather arbitrarily renamed them as a Partridge Chantecler, much to his huge disappointment!”

This from a Canadian Breeder who worked to preserve both Chanteclers and Albertans.

Thank you for your continued support as we work to preserve the Chantecler.

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August 13th, 2013

There! Today I officially ended the 2013 breeding season for Fayrehale White Chanteclers! The incubator is full for the last orders we will fill this year. I opened the gates to the breeding pens and let the flock out to range. Now they get to live like Chickens should! Their reward for their hard work and another successful year.

They have plenty of cover as the pens are in a 3 row conifer hedgerow/windbreak and that leads to a nice grassy area next door, that we use, that has trees here and there…. so it is an easy scoot to safety if any winged shadows appear!

As you know, we are a small serious breeder and not a hatchery. We still managed to produce and distribute over 800 Chanteclers a year.

Once again we could not meet demand. Part of that was timing! Too many of you waited too late to express your needs. We are rolling you to 2014. It is important to get your orders in early so that we can manage our Cabinet incubator (24 doz eggs) efficiently. Those that missed out on 2013, waited until September to inquire.

Once again, orders are filled in the order prepayment is received. I suggest people think about paying this fall and winter to secure a good place on the Spring 2014 list!

I have waited as long as 20 months after placing and paying for an order before my chicks could be sent. Something we chicken people do when we are serious. 🙂

You can keep up to date by following our Facebook page and keeping an eye on our website. We will do our best to hold prices in 2014 (See Above) …… another reason to prepay now! Then you are guaranteed current pricing

Good to be free!

Nice to see! They know how to work the open grass w/ cover close. Breeding season is over so they are turned out until winter.

I separated out the last original hens (2 Bisco line and 1 Canadian line) and placed them w/ 2 large roosters that are a genetic mix of all the lines.

Random Candid Pictures of These Chicks – 9/21/2013 –

I like their eye to look like an Eagle’s eye. I want a look of wisdom and a nice full body that promises both eggs and eating.

and through the wire:

Cooking Heritage Birds

Here is information on cooking heritage birds. It was written by Gina Bisco, an American breeder of the White Chantecler. The Bisco line of White Chanteclers is the ONLY American line in our flock.

“Peggy”, The Chantecler Chick

“Peggy”

On June 4th a local woman contacted me and asked for one fertile egg. They had placed a supposedly fertile egg under their hen and their small children were waiting eagerly for the egg to hatch …….. egg a week over due…… so not going to hatch.

I candled the eggs in the incubator and sold her one egg as she requested… She picked it up, wrapped it in her sweater, and took it home to slip under the hen. Hatched on schedule last Sunday (6/9) and her update follows!!:):):) :

“Hi Jim ~
Just writing w/ an update for you. Our new little fluffy addition to our family arrived on Sunday afternoon, just as you predicted. Mom (Maple) is very proud indeed! My children are sure that she is a girl and have named her “Peggy”. Maple sat on her for Sun and Mon but today she is out exploring her world ~ acting quite healthy and spry. My children have enjoyed lots of quiet time observing and loving her. Maple has been very trusting of us since she too, has been given lots of affection since she was newly hatched. It’s been just perfect. She will be very loved here… thank you so much!!
~ Ruth”

Events like this make life special!

Update on “Peggy” The Chantecler Chick! – August 17, 2013

So many of you enjoyed hearing about Peggy that I thought I would bring you up to date! Peggy is doing well and growing in to a beautiful white Chantecler hen! Word and pitures from her family today.

“Peggy is great and we’re assuming she’s still a she! She has become friends w/ our two other little ones which are about her same age (I had purchased two female chicks from Agway since the kids wanted a barred rock to replace our lost one). The flock accepted them all quickly and that was a relief. She still hangs out w/ her Mom, Maple, but is definitely independent. She’s become quite friendly to us too! Here are a few pictures taken yesterday. Thanks for checking in on her ~ I’ll tell her you were asking!
~ Ruth”

Peggy with her Mother, Maple

Peggy ! Isn’t she Beautiful?

Peggy with a Barred Rock Friend

WARNING! PLEASE TAKE CAREFUL NOTE!

I am “VERY DISTRESSED to learn that someone in Michigan crossed The Buff w/ the White Chantecler and has sold them (some to a lady in Vermont) with the word that they would be white.

We all know that these are different breeds. The Partridge is the Albertan and the Buff is whatever! NEITHER should ever be crossed with Whites and sold as Whites! They are crossbreds that will have off color and type for generations.

Selling to a person just interested in Chanteclers is totally unethical. Now this disaster has entered Vermont. I have worked hard to breed, promote and spread the PURE WHITE Chantecler! The Original Heritage Canadian Breed.

Now I must warn about this impure intrusion in all my publicity. WHO ever is doing this! PLEASE HAVE THE DECENCY to NOT SELL the results… mess up your own flock! Please do not mess up the breed!

This really shows egg development well……AMAZING what happens in 21 days!

Great Visual of the Hatching Process

This mature Chantecler cock is with a mature Chantecler hen in the “grow pen” where we raised over 100 late hatchlings for the freezer.

Chickens are part of our gardening!

Our White Chanteclers (Heritage Canadian Breed bred for cold weather) in their hoop house winter quarters. Usually an open wire door but with this week long subzero weather that has hit Vermont, we hung a tarp over the door. Walked in this afternoon to find them enjoying a large group dust bath! They move out in the Spring to breeding pens as these hoop houses are over raised garden beds.

Dee, We work exclusively with the WHITE Chanteclers. They are the true Canadian Dual Purpose Heritage Breed developed for cold weather. The “Partridge” is really another Canadian Breed (originally the Albertan) and Americans lumped it under the Chantecler label !

The Albertan (regardless of what it s called) is a totally separate breed. There are also some people working w/ a buff colored bird they call the Buff Chantecler and I believe a hatchery is offering “Red Chanteclers”

Here we work preserving what we consider the only Chantecler, The White Chantecler. I will be posting some history and back ground articles soon. Thanks

Thinking of the wrong picture! This is the “grow pen” and there were non-Chantecler birds in this two…. This one mature pair was in with all the youngsters that we were growing out… some to add to flock and others to eat.

Hi, I am relatively local (Newport) and even colder than you. I am interested in adding 2 chanticlers to my 4 chicken flock. I have 2 cochin banties and 2 Speckled Sussex. Are you able/willing to deal with such small numbers? Obviously I can pick up. I am unable to take a rooster unfortunately because of local byelaws and neighbors who would run me out of town and therefore would be waiting until they could be sexed. Possible?

Yes, Pam, we can make that work. We will be hatching the ones we keep to add to flock and eat in April.. Once we can sex them (neck feathers usually tell before to many months) we can accommodate your request for two pullets

I assumed sending live chicks would be more bother than either one of us would care to deal with. But if eggs are not a problem I would be willing to go that route. If getting eggs across the border is a problem or much more expensive, then I would appreciate the name of a reputable breeder on this side of the border.

Oops, looks like an oversight on our part with listing an e-mail!!! You can contact us at fayrehale@gmail.com. The White Chantecler does go broody and will hatch chicks. They are not considered one of the extremely broody breeds. We use an incubator here but would follow the natural process of allowing the hen to brood if we were not working so hard to preserve the breed.

I would like to purchase 6-10 Chantecler Chickens. If I came up to pick them up would that size order be possible. A friend recommended this interesting breed. It will be my first attempt at backyard chickens. I would like to ideally end up with 5-6 hens and one rooster. I am patient and can wait and more than happy to pre-pay and pick up when available. Thank you,
Jim

Yes, Jim, we can do smaller orders w/ local pickup. Law requires that we mail a minimum of 25 chicks. Chicks are straight run. We offer older (12 week) sexed birds for local pickup. I will e-mail you with payment details.

Thanks for the great information here on the Chanteclers. I refer specifically to the warning. Important to pass on to everyone who cares. And it’s good to know about the different “colour variations” and what that really means.

I got my first 6 White Chanteclers this May and I’m very impressed with their temperament and look forward to seeing them in the yard. Just had the first attempt by the rooster to crow on Monday morning 🙂

I’ve looked all over your website trying to find out how to contact you folks to place an order for the white Chantecler chicks or hatching eggs. I’ve been fascinated by the white Chantecler, its history and purpose, and I would like to start a flock of my own. I realize it’s late in the season to be thinking about raising chickens…..but then again, a friend of mine in VT started me on my own chicken adventure when she gave me a couple dozen colored eggs and her incubator to hatch some layers in my living room in December! I had to build a small pen in my basement to keep them until our cold NH winter left and my new little flock of pullets and cockerels feathered out enough to move into the barn.

I understand that I will probably have to wait until 2014 to obtain some Chanteclers, but I would at least like to “get in line” for when they become available.

You are correct in the fact it will be Spring 2014. We usually start the incubator towards the end of March so the first hatches are in April. Right now we are winding down a great 2013 season and have two more larger orders that will be picked up here at Fayrehale before we give the girls a much deserved rest and turn then out!

The White Chantecler is a great breed. We have grown to love them. You will too.

I just want to say my Chantecler Chickens I received from Fayrehale Farm are sweet and very healthy. They have thrived through a very cold winter with just a small coop, and a wrapped run and limited heat to prevent frostbite. The are fed certified non-gmo, certified organic feed and grains and are free ranged as the weather permits. I am extremely happy and they seem to be also.

Technically NO! – The Chantecler is ONLY the White Large Fowl developed by Brother Wilfrid. The so called “Partridge Chantecler” is in fact another Canadian breed – the Albertan.

“It is important to note that even though they carry the same name, the Partridge Chantecler and the White Chantecler are in effect, separate and distinct breeds, and accordingly must be maintained separately to ensure they remain as such!

The Partridge Chantecler was developed approximately 30 years after the White Chantecler, by Dr J E Wilkinson of Edmonton AB. Just as Brother Wilfrid made a series of crosses to come up with his “ideal”, so did Dr Wilkinson. Ultimately he came up with a bird that he called the “Albertan”. It is important to note that they actually had nothing at all to do with Brother Wilfrid’s White Chanteclers and that they were essentially completely different breeds. However when Dr Wilkinson submitted his “Partridge Albertan” birds for recognition by the American Poultry Association, they did accept them but then rather arbitrarily renamed them as a Partridge Chantecler, much to his huge disappointment!”

There is probably someone some where playing with a small bird w/ Chantecler characteristics but they will not have a Chantecler.

I know people keep them in the south even though bred for cold climate. I would think if one wee to do so, they should start w/ chicks. If extremely hot, they would require shade and airflow that is caused by shaded areas. I assume all poultry needs that ?? My original Bisco line birds were hatched under a broody hen. I do not allow as I need to produce more birds and need the eggs for the incubator. I do have hens who indicate they indicate they want to brood — spread and fluff them selves out and give me a gentle peck when I disrupt them:):) The breed is not known for broodiness as some heritage breeds are. Please let me know if you have further questions.

I’ve sent an e-mail, but wanted to try this, too, to reach out to you about obtaining some Chantecler chickens. Please shoot me back a note, or call the numbers in the signature line of the e-mail. Thanks.

love your birds, presume your out of chicks at this stage of the game, remember them from poultry class at macdonald college in ste anne de bellve back in 1980, interesting bird…..i live anong mohawk river just wet of alabany new york…am interested

No Bill, we can still get you Chicks this season.. Probably June? We are working through our list and will run the incubator until fall. I will e-mail you also as I do not know if people who post comments receive a notice if a reply is posted.

I’m looking into purchasing some of your White Chantecler Chicks, I have been looking into some of the true breeds like RI White’s w/ rose comb ,and the true RI Reds ,then I came across your web site and see the Chantecler that you have and breeding there just beautiful also so could you please email I was wondering on purchasing 18 hatching eggs this year /2015 seeing I’m right down south of you in Ma.